Gallimaufry
by Tape Monkey
Summary: Well.  I don't want to give away too much of the plot... but it's about what would happen if the Greek and Egyptian gods have a child together.  Oops, was that too much?  Well, I didn't tell you that.  YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT!
1. Beginnings

**(A/N) This is my first fanfic, hope y'all like it a tiny bit!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. Well, I do own some things, like clothes and all, but ya know, none of the stuff I want to put in mu story. Wouldn't it'd be cool if I did?**

Chapter One: Beginnings

~Abigail~

My name is Abigail Elina Protingas, but it might as well be Turned-Down, because that's what I've always been. Turned down. I'm sorry, we're too full. I'm sorry, we only take under-tens. I'm sorry, we don't want you here. No, no, no, no. Always no, anywhere I try to go. Furthermore, if I happen to find a family who wants to take me, or even – gods forbid – an orphanage, they kick me out eventually. If it's bad for regular half-bloods, it's bound to be worse for me. It was easier when I was a cute blonde 6-year-old orphan. Now I'm a tall, skinny teenager, and all of a sudden, nobody wants me. I don't blame my parents for leaving me… I rather wasn't supposed to happen, anyway.

I've been wandering the streets of NYC for the past two or three weeks, doing odd jobs for hot dog stands and street performers. I haven't had the heart to leave Manhattan. It truly is an amazing city. Sometimes I'll go and look up at Olympus, wishing with all my heart that I wasn't a freak. I'm standing here now. But life is too short to dwell on failures, isn't it? I force myself away from Olympus. If my own mother doesn't want me, then I don't want her. I walk down the street, hands in the pockets of my old, tattered jeans, when an idea pops into my head.

What about my father?

I think about it. It's unlikely that he himself will take kindly to me, but maybe his side of the family will be kinder. The more I think about it, the more the idea sounds plausible. I start to get excited. A plan forms in my head. I start walking in the correct direction automatically.

Forget you, Athena. Brooklyn, here I come.

**(A/N) Well, that wasn't really a chapter, more a prologue, really. PLLLLLEASE review! Flames are okay as long as they aren't tooooooooo mean... **

**TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey  
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	2. New Developments

Chapter Two: New Developments

**(A/N) Well, y'all still didn't review, but I'm posting chapter two anyway because I'm cool. And I got bored waiting… but maybe I'm just impatient. **

**PS I still don't own anything :\  
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~Carter~

"Carter! Down here, now! We've got visitors!" **(A/N For simplicity's sake, I set this around the time of the first book, so no Walt, Jaz, etc.)**

"Coming, Sadie. No need to flip." I pulled myself away from the book I was reading and headed down the stairs. She stood with her arms crossed next to the open door. Standing in the doorway was a girl who looked a little older than I did. She was tall and very pretty in an intimidating way.

"Well, hi," I said. "Are you a magician?" The girl smiled evasively.

"Well, not exactly. Can I come in? I have a lot of explaining to do." I noticed she had a smooth accent that I couldn't quite place.

"Um, sure. Come on in," I said. Sadie gave me a sharp look. The girl stepped over the doorstep without even thanking me. I decided that I didn't like her very much. I made to follow her, but Sadie pulled me back.

"Carter! What are you thinking, letting a random stranger into the house? Nutcase!"

"Well, if she attacks us then it'll be good practice, won't it?" Sadie just sighed and shook her head, but I think my logic makes sense.

Sadie opened her mouth to say more, but I turned my back on her. I walked into the room, ignoring her whispered warnings. The mystery girl was already seated on the couch.

"Thank you for letting me in. I've had a lot of trouble finding places to stay these days. My name is Abigail Protingas, and my father is Thoth. You've heard of him, I suppose." Sadie and I stared.

"But – they don't have kids, do they?" Sadie said. Abigail winced.

"Well, they do sometimes. And it wasn't exactly… conventional. You see, my mother is a Greek goddess."

"Greek?" said Sadie, as if it was a foreign word she just learned.

"Well, yes. You know how the Egyptian gods are still around. Well, the Greeks are too. And that's the short version."

"Is this some sort of joke?" Sadie demanded.

"Well… no," said Abigail.

"I think I may need to sit down," Sadie said faintly.

"You are sitting down," I reminded her. She ignored me.

"Well – will you let me stay here? For just a little time, at least?" I decided that 'desperate' was the only word to describe her expression, and I felt sorry for her.

"We should ask…" said Sadie.

"No," I interrupted firmly. Sadie's sentence faded off. "You can stay in the extra bedroom." Abigail's face split into a wide smile. She thanked us profusely. _From haughty to timid to pleasant in less than ten minutes, _I thought. _Not quite sure how much I like her. _

"I'll show you to your room," I told her, ignoring Sadie's look of outrage.

Now, please don't hold me responsible for my actions. I have been cooped up in Brooklyn since some time last winter. I am feeling very bored and therefore very reckless. She was probably lying. She's probably a spy for Chaos. I doubt the Greek gods even exist. But hey, a little bit of fighting is more interesting than just sitting here, isn't it?

**LATER** (still Carter)

"And then," said Sadie. "He's all like, 'Yeah, sure, random stranger lady that I just met! You can stay!" Amos nodded seriously.

"I see. Well, this is going to take some explaining on my part." He sighed and settled down in his chair.

We were sitting at the sofas in the middle of the night, discussing the new addition to our household.

"Well, I guess I'll just put this bluntly: there are Greek gods."

"So she wasn't lying?" said Sadie. She looked scared.

"No. She was completely serious. The Greek gods sometimes have children with mortals. Their children are called demigods, or sometimes half-bloods. And sometimes they do get involved with the Egyptian gods, usually when their spheres of power overlap."

"Spheres of power?" echoed Sadie.

"Yes, the area that they have control over. Now who did she say her Egyptian parent was?"

"Thoth," I supplied numbly.

"Yes. So her Olympian mother is probably Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle."

"She is."

All of us jumped. We hadn't heard Abigail come into the room.

"It's quite a romantic story, actually. I would tell it to you but we have more urgent problems."

"More urgent, madam?" said Amos. **(A/N I know Amos probably wouldn't say this, I think, but it's a line from 1776, which is an epic musical and deserves a shout-out. You see? I have an explanation for EVERY awkward line! For I am TAPE MONKEY!) **

"Yes. You see, I just took a _ba _trip. We have a very pressing matter on our hands. I'm afraid the world may be in mortal danger from this."

"Spit it out!" said Sadie rudely. She gets rude when she's tense.

"There are… more of me out there. More half-and-halves. Three, in fact. My… um, my father showed me. There's a son of Poseidon and Nephthys living in London, and a daughter of Zeus and Isis in Baltimore. Both are my age."

"And the third?" I prompted gently. She swallowed hard.

"That's the problem. The third is a daughter of Odyne, the goddess of pain, and none other than Set."

Sadie and I gaped at her.

"What can we do?" I asked softly. Amos swallowed.

"I'm afraid there's only one option."

"Which is?"

"We're going to Camp Half-Blood."

**(A/N) I know, epic ending. I'll post ch. 3 sometime later. Please review!**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey**


	3. Issues

Chapter Three: Issues

**(A/N) So, new chapter! Thank you sosososososoooo much to everyone who reviewed! I literally jumped up and yelled "AWESOMESAUCE!" at the top of my lungs. :)**

***sigh* I STILL don't own anything. Do I really have to do this for every chapter? Garsh! :P**

~Leo~

I don't get it.

Jason and Piper and Percy and Annabeth get to be ambassadors to the Roman camp and I'm stuck here? Uncool. **(A/N I know it would be highly unlikely for them to leave Leo behind but I wanted him in my story without everyone else, so that's what I did. Ahh, the power of being an author!) **I can shoot FIRE out of my HANDS and they STILL don't want me?

Therefore, I get to stay here with all the younger (and older) campers looking at me as if I have six heads. Which is ridiculous, because I clearly only have one head. Right now, I'm sitting in the forest, wondering if that guy who Tom Hanks played is named after it or if they named it after that guy who Tom Hanks played. Don't blame me. I have ADHD. I make a small flame in my hand and watch it flicker. I've been working on my powers a bit… experimenting a little. I make the flame hotter. It turns blue. I make it cooler, and it turns dark orange. That never made sense to me, how blue can be such a mellow, calming color but make a flame so much more dangerous. Well, not for me, of course. My thoughts wander to Tía Callida and how much more dangerous she was then I originally thought. One word pops to the forefront of my mind – _dangerous_.

"No," I say aloud. "That's not the way to get attention, Leo." But the thought still lingers.

I sigh and extinguish my flame. I'm standing up when I hear something. A rustle behind me. My first thought was a wood nymph of some sort.

_You fool, _said a little voice in my head. _Don't you think that tree spirits would take care not to rustle? _ Before the thought had fully registered in my head, a voice spoke.

"Are you from Camp Half-Blood?" I jumped about a foot in the air and spun around. Unfortunately, I ended up doing both at the same time, did some sort of ballet-like midair spin, and landed flat on my tushy. A tall girl stood over top of me, giving me a funny look.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine." I scrambled to my feet, my face burning. _One day it would be nice to meet someone and not make a total and complete fool of myself in front of them_, I thought. I noticed that there were three other people behind her – a boy about my age, a girl a little younger than him, and an old dude.

"Well? _Are_ you from Camp Half-Blood?" the tall girl asked.

"I'm not going to tell you! You're probably just going to transform into some creepy monster thing and eat me. Wait, did I say that out loud? Nuts." Now all four of them were looking at me funny.

The boy stepped forward.

"Hi there. We aren't here to hurt you, or sabotage the camp in any way. We just can't get in the normal way. My name's Carter Kane." He stepped forward and put out his hand. I shook it slightly nervously.

"I'm Leo Valdez," I said. "I'm really not the person you'll want to talk to. Are you all half-bloods?" The old dude stepped forward.

"It's a lot more complicated than that, Leo." I started mentally freaking out that he knew my name… then I remembered that I just said it. Blame the ADHD.

"Well… I really would let you in and all, but if you're not half-bloods, I don't think I can let you in."

"Let's not make this hard, boy," said the tall girl, his eyes flashing. Eyes flashing? Sketchy. All four of them looked sketchy, now that I think about it. Why would anyone try to come in the back way? And why are they trying to get in, anyways? Now certain that I had a monster-sized problem on my hands, I summoned a handful of fire.

"You're not stepping past this point," I said dramatically.

"Oh, for Ra's sake!" exclaimed the slightly Goth-looking blonde girl. She pulled out a big stick thing and said something I didn't understand. The world disappeared into blackness.

**Well, that was it! So... replies to comments.**

**To person with no name: Thanks so much! Your review made me really happy!**

**To sadiekane1221: Well, to be honest, I wasn't sure where it was going till recently either! :]**

**To Animal Charmer 11: I'll work her in! She won't be at Camp Half-blood, though... but I have an idea... and actually, Abigail ends up with someone else (he's not in the story yet). But I'm too addicted to Zarter to mess that up :) But Leo WILL end up with someone... not telling who!**

**To miramisa90212: :D THANK YOU :))) Glad you like it!**

**Well, that's it for now. Next chap= Carter again.**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey  
><strong>


	4. So That's What This Is All About

**(A/N) Well, it's up. Hope you think it's awesomesauce!**

**I refuse to do the disclaimer. I DID IT ALREADY PEOPLIES! I DON'T WANNA DO IT AGAIN! (hahahahahahaaaa. my computer said I spelled peoplies wrong [I didn't] but one of its suggestions was pedophile. I really hope you readers aren't pedo-bears. that would not be fun :P)  
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Chapter Four: So That's What This Is All About

~Carter~

"When do you think they'll come out of there and actually tell us what's going on?"

Sadie and I were sitting outside what the guy in the wheelchair had called the "Big House," waiting for Amos and Abigail to come out.

"I dunno. Could be ages."

A group of teenagers in bright orange t-shirts walked past us, carrying bows and arrows. Then they saw us. A girl with blonde hair stepped forward.

"Hello," she said, smiling. "Are you new half-bloods?"

"No," said Sadie rudely. The girl looked at us curiously.

"Let's go," said the boy behind her. They walked away quickly, all while watching their backs like we were going to attack them.

"Sadie, come on! Did you really have to do that?"

"I don't like blondes," she said stubbornly.

"You are blonde," I reminded her.

"Dirty blonde, actually."

"They're different?"

"Yes, actually."

I just rolled my eyes. We sat in silence for a while.

"With red streaks," added Sadie. I sighed. This is what I have to deal with!

We both jumped as the door opened behind us. Sadie and I jumped up. Amos and the guy in the wheelchair were walking (and rolling) out of the door.

"So what's going on?" blurted Sadie. The man in the wheelchair shifted his weight.

"Your uncle will tell you, Sadie. First, I must go check on that poor boy you blasted earlier. Greeks don't do well when hit with Egyptian magic."

"He was asking for it," said Sadie, but she looked a little uncomfortable.

"Carter, Sadie. Come inside," said Amos. We followed him inside.

"Amos, what's going on? What is this?"

"Well, I'm not the best person to explain, but I'll do my best. We need to call the other half-and-halves."

"How?" I said.

"Why?" said Sadie.

"Even the evil one?" I said.

"Why can't we just let these weirdos deal with it themselves?" said Sadie.

"Wait, where did Abigail go?"

"We don't know how. Not the evil one. We have a duty in this too. Abigail is with the Oracle of Delphi. And we're only doing it because we – well – we don't know what else to do," said Amos.

"What else to do because of what?" Sadie asked.

"What's the Oracle of Delphi?" I said.

"I still don't get why we can't just go home," said Sadie.

"The third half-and-half is the reason we have to do this. You may have heard of her. Her name is Kendra Lew. The Oracle of Delphi can tell the future."

"You mean Kendra Lew the _movie star_?" I said.

"You still haven't told me why we can't go home," said Sadie.

"Yes, that Kendra Lew. She's power-hungry and insane," said Amos.

"She looks normal enough on television," said Sadie nervously.

"She's the daughter of Set. She's bound to be deceptive when she wants to. You see, Abigail told us the rest of her dream. Apparently, Lew is aiming to take over America by killing the president and taking power herself. She will then go on to conquer all the other countries and rule the world."

"She is crazy," I remarked.

"That's so cliché. Why do bad guys always want to rule the world?"

Amos ignored Sadie and went on.

"Life under the rule of Kendra Lew would be worse than Hitler. Worse than Stalin, worse than Napoleon, worse than anyone. I predict that she will try to get the more evil gods of both sides to follow her. After that, the good gods will follow and the world will be dropped into chaos. Imagine living under a mix between the Third Reich and Soviet Russia. You would have nothing. No freedom, no property, no education, no _nothing."_

I shivered. Amos went on.

"Abigail learned in her dream that the only people powerful enough to defeat Lew are her and the two other half-and-halves. The Oracle of Delphi is giving Abigail the instructions for the summoning ceremony now."

"Are they immortal?"

"The half-and-halves? Good question, but no. The immortality of the two parents cancel each other out. Sort of like when you multiply two negative numbers together."

"You sound like my old maths teacher," grumbled Sadie.

"What will we do when we manage to summon the other two half-and-halves?" I asked.

"We train. We avoid trouble. And when it's time… we kill Kendra Lew," Amos said seriously.

"What will Carter and I do?" asked Sadie.

"You help." I sat up straight.

"I'm in." No way I'm not. "Sadie?"

She nodded.

"No way I'm not," she said with a wry smile. "Let's get this party started."

**Yeah. In case you haven't noticed, my chaps are kinda short. (I mean chapters. not cowboy pants. :P)**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey **


	5. No Problemo! Ish

**(A/N) IT'S LEO TIME! YAYYYYYY :) :) :) :) WHO'S READY FOR SOME RANDOM ADHD? I SURE AM! (Just because I have it myself!)**

**Disclaimer: No.**

Chapter Five: No Problemo! Ish.

~Leo~

I was running through the woods. Except not really. _What's going on? _I thought. _Oh right, a dream. _I decided to sit (lay) back and let the dream happen. Not that I had any choice in the matter. So, I was running through the woods. Except I could see myself doing it, which was strange. Dream-Me looked scared. I looked, but nobody seemed to be following him (me). He (I) was approaching a building. The door sprung open as he (I) came close. **(A/N Harry Potter moment! 333 you knew I'd sneak one in here somehow!) **Dream-Me sprinted inside without even slowing down.

"Simone!" Dream-Me yelled. _Who's Simone? _Real-Me wondered. He ran down a flight of stairs and yanked open a door. I just caught a glimpse of a girl – Simone, probably – being pulled away by a pair of beefy, scary-looking men when I flew backwards along a long, dark tunnel and woke up, my scream dying in my throat.

I would have sat straight up in bed, but that wasn't really an option because my muscles kind of seemed rather dead at the moment. Instead, I resorted to twitching a little. A face swam into focus above me.

"Chiron?" My throat felt dead too.

"Ahh, my boy. I knew you'd be all right," he said.

"Why do I feel dead?"

"Well, you _were _hit by a rather powerful Egyptian spell, cast by a rather powerful magician…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. What do you mean, Egyptian?"

"Leo… the Egyptian gods are still around, too."

**(A/N So then Chiron explains it all. Please excuse me for not doing it again. I hope you'll live. If you don't, then who will read my story? :D)**

"So… What I got from that is that the crazy girl (who isn't evil, apparently) has a crazy dream telling her about some crazy lady with evil, diabolical plans to take over the world."

"All but the crazy parts, yes."

"Great," I muttered.

"Once you're feeling better, we will go see what the Oracle told Abigail," said Chiron.

"Wait, which one's Abigail?" I asked.

"She's the tall blonde one. Carter is the boy. His sister is Sadie, the one that attacked you. And Amos is their uncle. You're taking this all quite well, by the way."  
>"I've seen enough freaky stuff in my lifetime, actually," I remarked. Chiron nodded.<p>

"How are you feeling?" he asked me.

"Like I was stomped on by a herd of angry emus and then put through an evil sadistic washing machine," I said.

"Nice way to put it," said Chiron with a smile.

"I practice," I said. Chiron blinked.

"Well, anyway, seeing as you are currently the most powerful demigod in camp, you might as well try to help defeat Kendra."

I sat up straight.

"You want me?" I said, not bothering to conceal my broad smile. "Yes!" I jumped out of my bed in the Apollo cabin. "Hey, where'd the Apollo campers go?"

"Outside for archery practice," said Chiron, looking slightly bemused at my quick recovery. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm just peachy! All right, let's go!"

Chiron wheeled over to me.

"Do you even know where you're going to go?" he asked me.

"I will once you tell me!" I said.

"Leo, wait. Slow down, boy! You aren't even fully healed yet."

"I'm fine!" I said rather impatiently. Then I ran out the door and smacked straight into Abigail herself. And landed on my tushy. Again.

"Ahh… sorry! Um, hi?" I said awkwardly. She looked at me strangely.

"Hey, Leo!" said the girl behind her – Rachel Elizabeth Dare. "Need a hand?"

"Hey, Rachel," I said gratefully. She helped me up. "Well, hi." This was directed towards Abigail.

"Hello," she said, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Abigail, this is Leo. He's a son of Hephaestus," said Rachel.

"Nice to meet you," said Abigail. I didn't like the way she looked down at me.

Just then, Chiron wheeled himself out of the cabin.

"Ah. I see you've met, then?" he said. I nodded.

"Rachel just told me about the summoning ceremony," said Abigail. Chiron nodded.

"And what exactly does this summoning ceremony include?" he said.

"Well, it might take a while to set up…" said Abigail. "And it's not easy."

"But we'll manage it," said Rachel with a smile.

"Excellent," said Chiron.

"Oh, and just one thing…" said Rachel.

"Yes?" said Chiron.

"Do you know where we can find a bright pink platypus-fur turtleneck sweater?"

**So. Kinda short chapter… but not really… ish... didja like my dramatic foreshadowing? Bwa ha ha! Imma no tell you who she issssssssss! :D :D :D even though you'll just find out in a couple chapters! :) So yeah. If someone could review that'd be nice… you can just say something totes random if you want. I'm getting kinda lonely here! Soooooo yeah. **

**Love, **

**Tape Monkey**

**P.S. Does anyone know where to find a bright pink platypus-fur turtleneck sweater? Because I don't know myself :}**


	6. The Ritual

**(A/N) Chapter 6! And to Erin Hunters 4 Ever – you are a genius. THANK YOU :) And to MuseGirltheauthor... I like it. I'll put him in at some point. Cross my heart :]  
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**I own everything. Lol jk. **

Chapter 6: The Ritual

~Carter~

**(A/N They are standing in a clearing in the forest, preparing for the ritual. I just keep forgetting to write that :\)**

"So, we've got the pipe cleaners, the tissue box, the powerful half-blood, the powerful magician, the half-and-half, the jug of unpasteurized milk, the rock circle, and the freshly-cut pineapple. The Stolls should be arriving with the pure uranium soon enough and we're still looking for the bright pink platypus-fur turtleneck sweater."

I'm not quite sure how great I feel about this. This redheaded Rachel claims to be the Oracle? I highly doubt she's even sane. But everyone else seems okay with it.

I stood slightly nervously next to Abigail and the boy Sadie attacked earlier – Leroy? No, Leo. He seemed to be fine, if a little hyper. Sadie stood a little behind me, and I wasn't sure where Amos was. **(A/N Translated from author-speak – I didn't feel like putting him in this chapter.)** Abigail and Leo looked like they had absolutely no problem with being part of a ritual involving pure uranium. I tried to calm my nerves. Amos and that guy in the wheelchair wouldn't allow something dangerous to happen. Now that I think about it, where _is _the guy in the wheelchair? Just as I thought that, I heard a clopping sound behind me. I turned around and wondered how the wheelchair guy was riding a horse if he was paralyzed. Then, with a minor (okay, major) heart attack, I realized that the wheelchair guy _was _the horse… or at least the top part of it.

"Ah, yes, hello," he said in response to the expressions on our faces. "I am a centaur. My name is Chiron. Rachel, I believe I have found a solution to your sweater problem." I had just begun to accept the fact that the wheelchair guy was a horse when a boy appeared out of nowhere, like he stepped out of the shadows. He was about my age, with dark hair, dark eyes, and olive-colored skin. He was wearing all black and reminded me of Anubis. This made alarm bells go off in my head.

I turned towards Sadie (who was standing a little behind me), and sure enough, her eyes were as wide as saucers. Typical.

"Oh, hey, Nico!" said Rachel. Sadie glared at her for simply being on first-name terms with him. "Do you know a good place to find a bright pink platypus-fur turtleneck sweater?"

"Try Australia," the Goth boy said without interest.

"_Dearest _Nico, would you ppppllleasssee go to Australia and find a bright pink platypus-fur turtleneck sweater?" said Rachel. He glared at her and disappeared randomly again. I heard Sadie sigh wistfully, but it might have been Leo. Hard to tell sometimes. **(A/N I am very sorry. I just felt the need to put that in. Yes, it was necessary. But don't worry, L-Dawg's definitely straight [at least in this story :)].) **

"Well, that takes care of that!" said Rachel as Chiron cantered off. "We might as well start setting up what we can! We should all pitch in.

So she put us all to work building delicate spindly creations out of pipe cleaners and tissues. I took the opportunity to talk to Leo a little.

"So you're a half-blood, huh?" I asked, trying to act like my sister hadn't hit him with a spell earlier.

"Yeah," he said. "Son of Hephaestus, god of fire."

"That's cool. So children of Hephaestus can shoot fire out of their hands?" I said.

"Well, only me. It's really rare, but the Fates were all like, 'Let's make him a cool dude!' so they did." I noticed that he couldn't stop fidgeting. "What about you?"

I told him all about how Dad took me around the world, which he found very cool.

"All I got to do was go to a bunch of boarding schools!" he said. I told him about how we managed to delay the return of Chaos, and he told me about how he and a couple of his friends stopped the giants from doing some bad stuff (his exact words).

"But now," he said, his face falling, "_they _get to go to the Roman camp and I'm stuck here."

Our conversation was interrupted by two boys who looked like twins lugging a metal-coated case behind them. The words "CAUTION: URANIUM" were stenciled on the side.

"Hey, Rachel! Hey, Leo! Hey, people we don't know! We got your uranium!" Rachel grinned.

"Thanks guys. Now only the bright pink platypus-fur turtleneck sweater left!" We set back to work, the boys running off to do some other mischievous thing.

First, we set up the rock circle. Then the pipe cleaner/tissue creations went inside. Leo, Abigail and I were instructed carefully on what to do during the ritual. And finally, we mixed together the pineapple, the milk, and the uranium into a cheap plastic cup you could easily find at the nearest Wal-Mart. With nothing else to do, we settled down to wait. By now, it was almost dark. Leo created a mini fire with his hand and we sat around it as casually as if it was a campfire.

"So, since we're all going to be around each other for a while, we might as well get to know each other a little," said Rachel. "Abigail, do you want to start?"

Her expression said 'no', but she did anyway. "Well… my name is Abigail Protinas, and I was born to – well, you know." She looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I've always known that they were my parents, just like you were born knowing how to breathe. None of the foster homes ever wanted me – or if they did, I would just be kicked out eventually."

"I know that feeling," said Leo.

"Yeah. So I would always end up on the streets again eventually. Sometimes I would meet monsters. They were more often Greek than Egyptian – Egyptian monsters aren't trained to know our scent. But the Greek ones would always find me eventually. Six years ago, when I was ten, I was attacked by a chimera. This is how I got this scar." She pulled up her left sleeve and exposed an angry-looking burn mark traveling from her elbow to her wrist.

"You were _ten?_" said Leo incredulously. "Percy Jackson was twelve when he fought it. And he _lost_. What weapon did you use?"

"A trash can lid," said Abigail offhandedly. "And a bit of magic." Sadie and I shared a glance that said something along the lines of OMG. At that moment, Nico reappeared right next to Sadie, who looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"I found your sweater," he said, holding it out. We all recoiled.

"That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life!" exclaimed Leo. I agreed with him. The sweater was the color of that disgusting medicine you take when you have an ear infection with little hairs sticking out all over it. It was shapelessly lumpy and looked dreadfully itchy.

"Thanks, Nico," said Rachel with a smile. I wondered how it was possible to smile as much as she did. "You should stay for the summoning ritual." Nico sat down silently. Unfortunately, he sat right next to Sadie, who started silently hyperventilating.

"Well, we might as well get started. As the summoner, I am going to have to wear the sweater and drink the milk/pineapple/uranium combination," said Rachel. We all stared at her.

"It was nice knowing you," said Leo mournfully.

"Oh, don't worry. The enzymes in the milk counteract the radioactivity of the uranium, so I'll be fine," Rachel reassured us. **(A/N I made that up. DO NOT try this at home, please.)**

"I was more worried about the sweater," said Leo.

"So we all know what to do? Positions, everybody! Nico, if you could stand back there next to Sadie, that'd be great," said Rachel. Sadie seemed to agree. Leo and I stood on either side of Abigail, who stood across the ring of stones from Rachel.

Rachel pulled the sweater over her head, where it clashed horribly with her hair. She then swallowed the cup of milk/pineapple/uranium in one gulp. We all cringed, waiting for her to die, but she just grimaced at the taste. She then started chanting.

"_O spirits of the wide, bright night,_

_We beg you please to help us fight._

_Half-born children, come to the light,_

_To help us defeat out enemy tonight." _

The pipe cleaner and tissue creations in the rock circle started to glow brightly. They glowed brighter and brighter until my eyes burned from looking at them. As I shielded my face, I heard someone screaming, but I couldn't tell who. My natural instincts kicked in and I tried to run, but my feet were glued to the ground. _We messed up, _I thought. _We're all going to die. _

This thought had just formed in my mind when the scream increased to an ear-piercing level. The ground was vibrating and the rock circle was brighter than the sun. Then the shaking, glowing, and screaming stopped and all was still.

**(A/N) Well, I hoped you liked this super-long chapter, cuz I worked for forrrreeeeever on it. I'm considering being mean and not posting the next chapter, but even I'm not that evil. Well, yeah. I'll go work on the next chapter now.**

**PS Sorry for not posting for a while :/ I was busy fighting the forces of evil. (Not!)**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey**


	7. Oh yyyeahhh!

**Posting two chapters at once! Because I can :]**

**Someone else do the disclaimer!**

**Barack Obama: She doesn't own anything. **

**Me: Vote for him!**

**Barack: My name is Barack Obama and I approve this message. **

Chapter 7: Oh yyyeahhh!

~Leo~

I was staring at a girl. A girl I hadn't ever seen before.

"IT WORKED!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, jumping up from the ground I just realized I was lying on. I looked around. Everyone else was sitting up and rubbing their heads. Sadie took one look at Nico and scooted away, her face bright red. The girl on the ground in front of me looked absolutely terrified (which wasn't surprising. I mean, she just got transported from some other random place to a place she'd never been to before). She jumped up and tried to scramble away, colliding with a tall black boy I'd never seen before – the other half-and-half. Suddenly, Rachel sat straight upright and yelled, "STOP!" They did. I'm surprised they didn't scream. With her face dirty, her curly hair messed up, and her (ugh) _sweater _on, she looked downright terrifying. Don't tell her I said that. The boy turned towards her and squatted a little like he was a pro wrestler (even though he looked slightly like a toothpick).

"We aren't going to hurt you! Please just listen to what we have to say." I turned my head towards the speaker and saw that it was Abigail. She then said something in a language I didn't understand. The two other half-and-halves stopped and looked at her. The boy said something, probably in the same language, because I still didn't understand it. Abigail replied, and soon the three of them had a conversation going. I looked around. Carter, Sadie, and Nico looked just as confused as I felt, but Rachel was smiling. She scooted over to us.

"That's the language of half-and-halves," she said to us. "I can't believe it actually worked!"  
>"They have a language?" I said.<p>

Just then, Abigail turned around.

"This is Quincy South. He's a son of Poseidon and Nephthys." I noticed that Carter tensed up a little when she said the second name, which I guessed was the Egyptian goddess of water.

"And this is Simone Gibson-Smith. She's a daughter of Zeus and Isis." _Powerful combination, _I thought. I took a closer look at them. The boy was older than me, about the same age as Abigail. He had close-cropped black hair, light brown skin, and hazel eyes. The girl was petite and looked to be a little younger than me. She had curly reddish-brown hair, stunning blue eyes, and a thin face, like she was a little wood elf.

"Quincy, Simone, this is Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, Carter Kane, Egyptian magician, Sadie Kane, Egyptian magician, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, and Rachel Dare, Oracle of Delphi."

"Nice to meet you," said Quincy. He had a British accent. Simone murmured a vague hello. She had barely looked up once and seemed very shy.

"So what do we do now?" I asked. Abigail glared at me. I don't even know what I did wrong!

"They just got here. Couldn't you give them some time?" she said. I shrugged a little.

"You know, we're going to need a place for you to stay," said Rachel. "Simone, you can stay in the Zeus cabin. Quincy will go in the Poseidon cabin and Abigail in Athena. Nico and Leo already have cabins, but we need a place for Carter and Sadie. Artemis, maybe? She's generally more easy-going than some."

"Carter's a boy," supplied Nico Goth-ly.

"Oh, you're right. She wouldn't like that. Come to think of it, I don't think any of the gods would like an Egyptian sleeping in their cabins. We can put you in the Big House and hope Mr. D doesn't come back from Italy any time soon." My head was spinning a little. Rachel talks a LOT.

"That should work," I said. Rachel nodded.

"Follow me," she said. We all hopped and followed. Except Nico, who was above hopping, apparently. Those silly Goths!

As we were walking (back to the Big House, I suppose), I fell back a little to talk to Simone. She was looking at her surroundings with great interest.

"Hey," I said. Her head automatically dropped back down. _She must be really shy_, I thought. At that moment, it became my personal goal to make her feel comfortable around me. Just to see if I could do it.

"Hi," she mumbled.

"I'm Leo Valdez," I said. "And you're Simone?" She nodded silently. _This is going to be hard,_ I thought. "Where are you from?"

"Baltimore," she said. I nodded. "Do you know if there is any way for me to contact my parents? They're going to be worried about me." Success! She spoke on her own!

"Probably. You're going to need to talk to Chiron about that." She looked up at me in surprise.

"Chiron?"

"Yeah. The old dude. As in, Hercules old. Fair warning – he's a centaur." I expected her to look at me like I was crazy, but she just nodded.

"Makes sense, if this is a camp for training half-bloods, that there would be people from the old myths here," she said quietly. _Very sensible. I like that._

We reached the Big House. Carter and Sadie went inside. I saw their uncle and Chiron inside playing pinochle. Carter waved at me as he went in. _He's cool, _I thought. _Not that many people are that nice these days. _Nico trudged off towards the Hades cabin as Rachel pointed the three half-and-halves to their cabins. I waved at her and set off towards the Hephaestus cabin. I used the underground tunnels to get to my bunk so to not disturb anybody, seeing as it was now around midnight. I collapsed on my bunk, exhausted. I found it hard to believe that just this morning, I was sitting under a tree, complaining about my life. One other thought formed in my head – something about Simone – but I fell asleep too quickly for it to fully form.

**Ta-da! You have officially met my two favorite characters in my story (that's Simmie and Quincy)! I know you didn't see Quincy much yet but you will later. He's cool :) And Simmie (that's my name for her) will open up eventually. I might start narrating some chaps from her POV later... haven't actually decided yet... *Fun fact* Quincy was originally a lot like Percy in my mind (dark hair and green eyes and all), but I figured that with him being the son of Popo (Poseidon) and with Abigail being a blonde daughter of Athena I had to mix things up a bit so it wasn't copying, so I changed appearances and personalities a lot. And just so you know... Abby has white-blonde hair, a little upturned nose, freckles, really pale skin, and kaleidoscope eyes like Thoth.*Another fun fact* I ship Quirrell/Voldemort (all thanks to AVPM!). *A third fun fact* My dad hit a turkey vulture with his car the other day X] It was gross :p But looking back on it, it was actually really funny. **

**That's it for now. **

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey**


	8. Pinky Promise

**Well hellloooooooooooooooooooo my little buddies! Sorry, sorry, sorry for not updating. Finals + dance rehearsals + writer's block + inspiration for a different story = NO STORY…**

**So I'm gonna do the review replies up front this time… **

**MuseGirlTheAuthor – A STARKID! YAY! Well, yes, I HAVE been watching Starship! (Half the reason I didn't update sooner!) And it's SOOOOOOOOO EPIC! I loved Kick It Up A Notch too! And sssseeerriouuuslly… how can you not love BRIAN HOLDEN? Oh, I have SUCH a bad crush on him. It's almost as bad as Harrison Ford as Han Solo! I DDDDIEDDDDD during the reprise of Kick It Up A Notch. And it does make sense for Apollo to be with Isis… but I'm gonna keep her as Zeus and Isis because it's a little bit crucial to the plot… **

**PS REDVINES!**

**AnimalCharmer11 – Well, noooo. You see, I changed her appearance a little as I wrote the chap, but when I was reading over it, I was like… SHIZZLE! They look alike! So I'm changing Simone…**

****ATTENTION READERS!** Simone is now petite with WAVY BRIGHT RED hair (not curly and dark red) and HAZEL eyes (not blue). Sorry about that… I have a terrible tendency to steal ideas without realizing it. And don't worry… Janie will come in pretty soon. It's one of my favorite parts (so far) so I wanna get to it quicklike. **

**DISCLAIMER! **

**Brian Holden: She doesn't own anything. Also, I am rather supermegafoxyawesomehot. **

**Tape Monkey: HE IS!**

**Joey Richter and Joe Moses: SO ARE WE!**

**Okay, so enough Starkid-spouting. ON WITH THE STORY!**

**This chapter is written in memory of Clarence Clemons, saxophonist for the E Street Band, who passed away this last week. *Rest in Peace… I'll never forget you. Nobody will.* **

Chapter 8: Pinky Promise

~Carter~

I woke up the next day not knowing where I was. And then I remembered. I jumped out of bed. I looked down and saw that I was still fully dressed. No extra pajamas. I saw Sadie on the other bed, still dead asleep. Typical. I decided to leave her as she was and go outside on my own.

I sat on the steps outside the Big House, reflecting on the events that had happened yesterday. When we got to the Big House, we saw a note from Amos. _Important meeting at the 7__th__ Nome. Be back soon. Good luck! -Amos _And that was all. I looked out over the Long Island sunrise. I may have traveled almost everywhere, but there's still nothing like a good ol' East Coast sunrise. I wondered who the first to see this sight was. Native Americans, preparing for a hunt? Wild animals? Or even the gods themselves? And after them, the colonists, trying their best to survive, all for a better tomorrow. Isn't that what we're doing now? Suffering for the good of society, just like the colonists. I sit for a while, lost in my thoughts, when I hear a slight noise behind me. I spun around, but it was just Sadie.

"Hey," she says. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing much," I lie. I'm still not quite used to having a sister. It is, after all, a full-time responsibility.

We sit in silence for a long time, so long that the sun is almost completely up before one of us speaks.

"I'm wondering if this is the right thing to do," says Sadie, like she read my thoughts. "If what the horse man tells us is true, then it sounds like we're going to have to kill Kendra Lew." I nod.

"It seems so strange. She's been in so many good movies. _Zombies v. Aliens, 1863, Yellow…_"

"I know, right?" says Sadie. "I remember seeing _Yellow _with a couple of my friends… seems so ironic that she was the serial killer in that movie, huh?" I laughed despite my mood.

"I didn't even think of that! And in _Zombies v. Aliens, _she was the bounty hunter, remember?" I said.

"You're right! What was she in _1863_?" said Sadie.

"Some general's wife. Dad took me to see it… I hated it… I don't want to _learn_ about slavery!" Sadie stayed silent after my sudden outburst. Race had always gone unmentioned between us, though it was always there, looming like some great awkward invisible beast. But now, everything had changed. Greek gods are real. Oscar-winning movie stars can be evil mass murderers. I can _talk _to my sister.

"It's just so hard sometimes. Nobody quite understands how it feels when you walk into a store and get a dirty look because of something that isn't your fault. People like to say that they're all accepting and crap, but deep down, they really aren't. And I _hate _that." I took a deep breath. I felt about a thousand times better, like I removed some great weight off of myself.

"I know how you feel," said Sadie, surprising me. "I get weird looks from old people all the time, just because I have streaks in my hair and I'm wearing black clothes. They don't even bother to get to know me, they just judge from what I look like, and don't even give a second thought to what I really am like. And that majorly sucks." I sat in shock for a moment. I never thought for a second that Sadie actually cared about what other people thought of her. And then I realized, _hey. Am I not doing exactly what I said I hated people doing? _

"I guess regular people are just too dumb to figure other people out," I said with a slight grin.

"Good thing we aren't regular people," said Sadie with a devilish grin. I laughed, then stuck out my pinkie finger like we used to do when we were little.

"Pinkie promise you'll never judge people on what they look like?" Sadie took my pinkie in hers.

"Pinkie promise," she said. And that was when I realized that no matter how different we looked, Sadie was still my sister. I got one glimpse of her surprised face as I pulled her into a tight bear hug. Then she relaxed and hugged me back.

**A/N Oooookay… so what if that was rather fluff-filled? It was CUTE!**

**Off to write my next fanfic! It's a HermesxArtemis… should be fun!**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N HI! Wow, I can't believe we're almost on double-digit chapters! Next chapter, we're gonna have a party. I remember MY tenth birthday… OH WAIT I don't, never mind. Almost five years (technically four years 11 months) is a long time for a girlie like me to remember! Okay maybe I should continue the story now. **

**DISCLAIMER: BLAH BLAH BLAH! It all belongs to Rick Riordan, the ancient Greeks, Wikipedia, and a little bit from me. **

**P.S. I decided to stop giving the chapters names because I can't think of any… numbers from now on!**

Chapter 9

~Leo~

I think it's really funny that I got to sit on the sidelines of the training arena eating frozen yogurt while the three half-and-halves, Carter, and Sadie trained vigorously and became very sweaty. (You may notice that I refrained to mention the fact that I was only sitting out because I had been taken down by my own hammer the day before. And I was only eating frozen yogurt because everyone at this blasted camp is calorie paranoid.)

Chiron had been teaching them archery, and they were now practicing. Simone was doing fantastic. So were Quincy and Carter. However, Sadie barely missed impaling me about 6 times (I don't see how that is supposed to work, seeing as I was sitting BEHIND her) and Abigail had managed to break her bow in the first thirty seconds (I think it was just because she didn't want to be bad at anything).

I continued watching them. Simone had graduated to trick shots, and several surprised squirrels could vouch for the accuracy of her aim. I was contemplating this when one of Sadie's arrows shot the frozen yogurt out of my hand. The arrow came from the SIDE, somehow. I jumped out of my seat, but this was a mistake because the frozen yogurt made the extremely rude decision to spill all over my orange T-shirt. I glared at Sadie, but she didn't notice because she had somehow gotten her bow stuck in her hair. Carter and Quincy were laughing hysterically (so rude!), and even quiet Simone had cracked a smile.

"THAT WAS MY FROZEN YOGURT!" I yelled at Sadie. She just scowled at me.

"BLAME THE BOW!" she yelled back. Nico chose that exact moment to walk into the arena. Sadie started blushing furiously. HAHA revenge is sweet! Not as sweet as my frozen yogurt WAS (rest in peace, my dear FroYo), but it was pretty close.

Nico looked from me (covered in frozen yogurt with a bandage around my head) to Sadie (bow still tangled in her hair, even worse than before) to Abigail (glaring at her broken bow like it just killed her pet kitty) to Carter and Quincy (still laughing hysterically – it must be a British thing, even though Carter's only half British. Or maybe it's a black thing [pretend I didn't say that, kay?] OH WAIT Carter's only half black!)

"Umm… should I come back later?" Nico said awkwardly. Sadie glared at me.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" I yelled intelligently at her.

"Um, _what's _not your fault?" said Nico.

"NOTHING!" screeched Sadie. Nico stepped back a little, shocked.

"Maybe I'll just go," he said. Then he left. Sadie looked like she was about to cry. The thought of someone crying because NICO left was too much for me – I started to laugh. Sadie's expression just made me laugh even more. After seeing her face, Quincy joined in. Carter had to stuff his fist into his mouth, but it didn't work, which made us laugh even MORE. Sadie huffed, flung her hair over her shoulder, and walked out. Quincy imitated her. This was too much for me. I fell over from laughing so hard. And it went on and on from there. It's a slippery slope, humor.

"STOP!" yelled Abigail. We looked at her with shock. Was she defending Sadie? But then we saw the fear on her face.

"What's the matter, Abigail?" asked Quincy.

"Can't you feel it?" I looked up. It was Simone. "There's something here that shouldn't be. Something dangerous."

At that moment, we heard a scream.  
>It was Sadie.<p>

Carter was the first to reach the door, with the rest of us close behind. He pulled it open and we all nearly fainted when we saw what was out there. I nearly fell over when I saw it. It was a giant crab.

"Karkinos," whispered Abigail. "Sometimes known as Cancer, like the constellation. Hercules beat it by stepping on it with his foot, or in some legends kicking it so hard that it flew into the sky, which we can't do. Percy Jackson beat it by stabbing it with his celestial bronze sword, but we don't have one. In Egyptian mythology, it was associated with the god Anubis and the constellation Sirius. _And it has Sadie_."

I gulped. Practically no weapons against a monster that only two people have beaten? And those two people happened to be the most powerful people of their times? Bye-bye, life. I'll miss you.

I think we took the crab by surprise, because it was just standing there, clicking its pincers at us. Sadie was lying on the ground beneath it, unconscious. We stood there for a second, looking at it. Then Simone raised her bow and shot it in the eye and we were all shocked into action. Carter pulled a big curved sword out of nowhere and started deflecting the pincers. Quincy pulled what looked a little like a steak knife out of his pocket and started trying to get close enough to stab it. Abigail ran around the back of Mr. Evil Crab and jumped on its back. I figured she was going to pull a Harry Potter and stick something up its nose, but instead she grabbed a biggish rock from the ground and smashed it into Mr. Evil Crab's head. Simone darted forward, grabbed Sadie, and pulled her back. And I stood there frozen, like an idiot.

I hate crabs. I always have. I didn't go to the beach at all when I was growing up, so when I met my first one at the tender age of six, it traumatized me for life.

"Do something, Leo!" yelled someone. My mind was so clouded by fear that I couldn't even register who. The Karkinos threw Abigail off. She hit a tree and slid to the ground. Simone tried to run over to her, but with one big swoosh of its right claw it took out both her _and _Carter. _My friends are dropping like flies, _I thought, still too paralyzed with fear to move.

"LEO!" yelled Quincy desperately. "DO SOMETHING!"

"Oh," I muttered, feeling woozy. "Right. I would get out of the way if I were you!" Quincy took my advice and dashed in the opposite direction. Summoning all my strength, I raised my hands and shot a huge fireball at Mr. Evil Crab. He disintegrated into fine white sand.

"Why didn't you do that before?" yelled Quincy.

"Pwned him," I murmured. "Pwned…"

Then, for the millionth time this week, I collapsed.

**A/N -END CHAPPIE 9!- **

**Well, that was fun! You have NO idea how hard it is to come up with a Greek monster that Percy Freakin' Jackson DIDN'T fight. So I had to settle with one he fought for about 10 seconds in book 5. **

**Oh, and much thanks to my readers in cool places like the Philippines and Venezuela and Australia. You are cool!**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for being gone from existence for a week! I was at space camp and it was AAWWWEESSSOMMMEEEEE! I learned how to fly a space shuttle! But anyways… CHAPTER 10! Yay :) Party time! *passes out red velvet cupcakes* *eats Swedish fish* *plays Pin The Tail on the Annoying Blonde Girl From School* *watches some cool movie like Forrest Gump or Raiders of the Lost Ark* Okay everybody! My story's 10****th**** birthday party is over! I suppose you want to hear the story now? Well too bad, cuz we have comments to reply to first!**

**Animal Charmer 11 – Cool, I'm from Maryland. (I love how boring that sounds!)**

**Crane's Shadow – AWESOME, glad you like it! Loved reading your review :)**

**MuseGirlTheAuthor – Did I mention how awesome you are? :D**

**Kay, that's all the reviews! Hey everyone! Go read my other story! It's called Not Just Another Silly Love Story… it's Hermes/Artemis!**

**This chapter is written in memory of the shuttle program, which launched its last shuttle (Atlantis) yesterday. WE'LL MISS YOU, SHUTTLE PROGRAM! **

**On with the story!  
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Chapter 10

~Carter~

I woke up on a hospital bed in the Big House with a centaur standing over me. Seriously, who invented centaurs? I've never liked horses very much.

"Ah, good. You're all right. We couldn't give you ambrosia, because that would just make you worse. How do you feel?"

"I feel fine," I said. "Sore, but fine."

"Well, that's good, because we need you in order to make a decision about what to do about Kendra Lew. She sent that crab, you know." I sat upright.

"She knows they're here?" I gasped.

"Yes," said Chiron gravely. "You are going to have to remain on the run, I'm afraid."

"Great," I said nervously, slipping back under the covers. "How's Sadie?"

"Other than the fact that she has two broken legs, a sprained wrist, several cracked ribs, and a concussion, she'll be fine." I nodded.

"But she can't go on the run with us?" I said. Chiron nodded.

"Nico has agreed to stay and help care for her," he said, and I had to try not to crack a smile at that. Just then, the door to the Big House opened and Leo ran in.

"Oh, hey, Carter's awake!" he said. Then he went to the door. "Abigail! Simone! Quincy! He's awake!" The half-and-halves came running in.

"Wotcher, Carter," he said, grinning. "Feeling all right?"

"Decent enough. How did the crab die?"

"I zapped it!" said Leo excitedly.

Leo confused me a little. He's a really powerful half-blood, rivaling a child of the Big Three (which Chiron had been teaching me about), but he also puts himself down, like he doesn't think he's worthy.

"Good for you, Leo," I said. "Now can someone tell me what in the Duat we're doing about this issue of the fact that Kendra Lew knows where we are?"

"That's what I'm going to tell you now," said Chiron. "Have any of you heard of the Committee?"

"What committee?" I asked.

"Not _a _committee, _the _Committee. With a capital C," said Abigail. "It's a group of influential famous politicians – and some others – from all times in American history. They rotate members, but the leader is always George Washington. Their headquarters are located in Hershey Park in Pennsylvania."

"Very good, Abigail," said Chiron, like a proud teacher.

"How do you _know _all of that?" said Leo.

"How are the dudes there not _dead_?" said Quincy.

"Hershey Park, as in, where they make the chocolate bars?" said Simone.

"Yes, why?" said Abigail.

"Because my adoptive parents take me there every year," she said. "We lived an hour and a half south of it. I've never seen any place to hide a group of ancient, extremely famous politicians."

"That's because it's underground," said Abigail. "And if I'm thinking along the same lines as Chiron, we can find help of some sort there." Chiron nodded.

"Absolutely right as usual, Abigail. You will have to go there. You can seek the help of Janice Malfoy – no relation, I believe – and tell her about yourselves. **(a/n *waits for Animal Charmer 11 to freak out with joy*)** She can help get you an audience with the Committee. And hope to the high heavens that Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson are _not _both on the council while you are there. If they are, then stay far out of reach of flying silverware. Your eyes will appreciate it." We all winced. "I speak from experience," he added.

"I want to go," said Sadie after she woke up a couple of hours later.

"Sadie, you _can't_," I said. "You're practically dead, you're so injured. Here, watch." I grabbed her iPod from her and darted out of reach. She tried to lunge forward to get it, but groaned and leaned back against the headboard.

"You see what I'm saying?" I said. "You have casts on both your legs, your dominant hand is in a sling, and your head is wrapped up like a bowling ball. You're _not_ going."

"But I have to! You can't go off and fight the forces of evil while I lay in bed drinking orange juice and watching reruns of soap operas starring people that peaked (not too high) in the 80's!" I ignored her. It was time to deal my winning blow.

"Hey, Nico, could you come in here?" I yelled. A second later, he walked in.

"Don't worry, Carter. Sadie will always be safe when I'm here."

The look on her face was priceless.

**A/N Chapter double-digits was a smashing success, I'd say! I think I just made Animal Charmer 11's month! :) Next chap, they're on the run. I'm hoping to get them to Hershey Park at chapter 13ish. Hey Animal Charmer 11, could you comment and tell me a little more of Janie's personality? I don't wanna mess it up…! **

**Kay! See y'all next chappie.**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N YAY! Chapter 11, finally up! **

**So did you all see Harry? I went at midnight! It was FANTASTIC, I cried about 6 times. I LOVE HARRY POTTER! wheeee!**

**So. Review replies. **

**Animal Charmer 11 – Haha, sorry… I'm just a little Potter obsessed. Malloy, got it now! And I'm thinking a demigician sounds cool!**

**Erin Hunters 4Ever – heehee… maybe just a little… I mean a LOT! Bahaha :)  
><strong>

**Crane's Shadow – Thanks for your feedback! **

**Hey everyone, guess what? It's my birthday in 2 days! I'm gonna be a big ol' 15 years old! I'm so old! Also, I bought myself some hipster bracelets from Hot Topic. One says "zombie" because I am one (long story!). **

**Okay, so chappie 11. It might be a little talky, but I'm afraid it's necessary for character development. I'll try to make it not boring!**

Chapter 11

~Leo~

The best part about getting another quest was everyone in my cabin telling me I was awesome. The worst was trying to guess how much stuff I'd need and then fitting it all into one backpack. Luckily, my tool belt provides clean socks and underwear so I don't need to pack those! So all I needed was a couple of t-shirts and some shorts. I stuffed everything haphazardly into my (awesome and definitely NOT dorky) Batman backpack and wandered outside.

"Good luck," said little Harley.

"Don't die," said Jake Mason helpfully.

"Thanks, Jake. I'll try not to." I walked out of the cabin, bidding a fond farewell to the plasma TV and mini fridge that the dead guy so helpfully put in my bed.

Outside, I saw two people, Abigail and Simone.

"Ah, good, you're ready. Is that a Batman backpack?" said Abigail.

"Yes. Is _that_ a Tinkerbell backpack?" I said.

"No, it's plain." Simone laughed at this exchange. It was nice to see her laugh.

"Come on, let's go find the others," said Abigail. Then she walked away so briskly that Simone and I had to run to catch up.

"Hey, Simone," I said.

"Hi," she said.

"Just a quick question for you… the other day you mentioned wanting to call your parents?"

"Well, my adoptive parents," she said. "As a half-and-half, I never really attracted monsters or caused much trouble. My parents were very good to me. They knew what I was, so they just did their best to protect me, which they did quite well. They're both men." Her green-brown eyes were challenging me to laugh or make fun, which I swear I did not intend to do.

"That's cool," I said. Her eyes thanked me silently. "Dude, I went to boarding school in freaking California for about 5 years, and I'm a Greek half-blood, _and_ I just found out that Egyptians are real too. It's not like I'm going to be one of those close-minded right wing Christians." **(A/N Yay Leo! Be a Democrat!)**

"Oh. Um, okay?" said Simone.

"I often have that effect on people."

We finally reached the planned meeting spot – the rock formation called Zeus' Fist. Carter, Quincy, Nico, and Chiron were waiting there. Nico was looking at the rocks like he wanted to beat them up.

"Finally!" said Quincy. Haha, British accent!

"Okay, so we're all ready to go, it seems," said Abigail.

"Yes," said Chiron. "You might as well just leave now. You'll catch the nearest Greyhound to Philadelphia and go from there."

"But do we even know where we're going?" I asked.

"Yes," said Abigail bluntly.

"Yeah, but what are we doing when we get there?"

"I've chosen to keep that private until we get there. I can't risk the fact that some of you might be spies."

Noises of outrage came from all around.

"You don't trust us?" I yelled.

"Why in the _world _would we betray you?" said Quincy angrily.

"And what if you die? _Then _what will we do?" said Carter.

Abigail winced slightly.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's that it's safer this way. I don't think that any of you would intend to betray me, but _accidentally _is another issue. And if I die, I'll depart my plans to the closest one of you with my dying breath. Now if there aren't any more questions, we should get going." The rest of us stared.

"Well, let's go," said Simone.

"Yeah, no point in sitting around," I said.

We all started to file into the forest.

"Take good care of my sister," said Carter to Nico.

"It'll be a hard job," he said with a tiny smile. Carter laughed.

"That's for sure." Then he followed me into the forest.

"Godspeed, my friends," said Chiron as we started walking. And thus our quest begun.

After about twenty minutes of walking, the trees thinned and we were walking on a sidewalk down a country street. Quincy sidled up next to me, still fuming about not being trusted.

"Hey," he said. "Have you ever seen _The Parent Trap? _The good one, with Lindsey Lohan."

"Hasn't everyone?" I said. "Why?"

"You remember that scene where they go on the hike with the dad's girlfriend and the twins are pulling all sorts of pranks on her because she doesn't like them?"

"I think so," I said.

"Well, I was just thinking of how much Abigail reminds me of the girlfriend." I snorted. "But you know I'm right!" he said. He did have a point.

"Stop talking so much back there," said Abigail. Quincy glanced pointedly at me.

"Well?" he whispered. "Wanna pull a prank?" I nodded vehemently. "Carter's in on it too!"

***FIVE MINUTES LATER***

Abigail was chatting quietly with Simone when a clump of dirt hit the back of her head. She turned around, fuming.

"Looks like you're gonna need something to cool off a little," said Quincy. He raised his hands and a spout of water came out and hit her in the face.

Needless to say, I think her reaction scared me about 10 times more than any giant ever did.

**A/N Haha, Quincy's like an impertinent child! I just wish to point out that Abigail is not as rude/stuck up as she seems, so please don't hate her. She just has a bit of a self esteem problem. **

**Since it's my birthday really really soon, review please!**

**That's all. **

**Bye. **

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey **


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